The child gave thought to the poet's words
Gave comfort to the Fallen

Remaining, yet still uninvited
Those words scented my soul

It's not the monsters under your bed
It is the man next door
That makes you fear, makes you cry,
makes you cry for the child
All the wars are fought among those lonely men
Unarmed, unscarred

Nightwish – Dead To the World

Chapter 13

Dear Eva

"She bled here," Hoyt stated, his voice was as neutral as always. "Someone has tried to cover up the tracks."

Elijah stared at the muddy ground in front of the small stable and squished Eva's dress in his hand; he had to use all his willpower in order to control himself. All of Klaus' lackeys were scouring the village and its surroundings, but Hoyt was the only one who had found anything, he was a very skilled tracker. He was the one who had found Eva in the first place. That felt like a lifetime ago, Elijah couldn't imagine his life without her. Someone had hurt her, his little Eva. He could smell her blood on the ground; it made him want to rip someone in pieces. His brother was the first person who he had in mind.

"Can you tell how much she has bled?" Klaus asked tensely.

Hoyt kept his face free from emotions, but clearly he hesitated.

"I would say quite a lot, considering her size. But she was alive when someone lifted her into a carriage or a wagon; I can see some signs of struggling."

Elijah clenched his fists.

"Anything else?"

"I can smell several humans, but it is impossible to say which one of them is her capturer, many people walk here on their way to the tavern…"

"Can you track the carriage?" Elijah interrupted him.

"I will try my best, but it will take some time and the sun will rise soon, I cannot…"

"Here," Elijah said without hesitation and removed his daylight ring.

The younger vampire stared at him disbelievingly before taking the ring. He didn't put it in his finger right away; instead he observed it like it would be a priceless object, which it was. The Holy Grail of vampires. Only the members of the Original family and a handful of other privileged vampires possessed these objects, Elijah knew perfectly well that most vampires would kill for his ring.

"Find her and I will personally make sure that you will have one of your own."

Hoyt looked up, his green eyes widened in surprise. There was nothing Elijah could have said which would encourage him more, they both knew that.

"Yes, my lord."

Hoyt looked at the dress in Elijah's hand, he had brought it with him from the castle in order to help the vampires who were looking for Eva, they needed to know her scent.

"May I take that with me?"

Elijah forced himself to hand the dress to Hoyt, although a big part of him wanted to keep it, Eva had wore it yesterday when she had sat on his lap by the fireplace, listening to the story he had read to her. She had leaned her head on his shoulder and fell asleep when the sun had risen, he hadn't found it in his heart to wake her, instead he had sat there for over an hour, listening to her sniffling in her sleep, before finally carrying her to her bed.

She was a sweet innocent little creature and someone had dared to hurt her. Elijah would have wanted to run to the woods looking for her, but he forced himself to stay calm, for Eva. Even though he had many skills, tracking wasn't one of them, he wasn't nearly as good as Hoyt and running around aimlessly would be completely useless.

"I am coming with you," Klaus said to Hoyt. "Get started, I will follow."

"Yes, my lord," Hoyt said and kneeled on the ground, scooping a handful of mud. After sniffing it, he started to follow some tracks Elijah couldn't see, he was heading out of the village.

"Elijah…" Klaus started.

"I cannot speak to you now," Elijah interrupted him icily.

"I will find her," Klaus said tensely. "I give you my word."

Elijah gritted his teeth, he was too angry to even look at his brother.

"The witches are on their way here," Klaus continued. "I will find her…"

"Look what I found," Kol's voice suddenly said, he was carrying some unconscious man over his shoulder.

"What…" Elijah started.

"Look," Kol interrupted him and threw the man on the ground, pointing at his neck. "Only midget's fangs are small enough to make these."

Elijah saw the bite marks; those definitely weren't made by an adult vampire.

"I found him from behind the church," Kol continued. "Apparently he tried to get inside before passing out."

Elijah looked at the man callously; he picked up a steady heartbeat.

"I will interrogate him before the witches arrive. And I must send word to Bekah."

Klaus lowered his head, he seemed even tenser.

"I will go with Hoyt," he muttered and turned around.

"The tracker? I am coming too," Kol said and glanced at Elijah. "We will find my midget….your midget…Eva."

Elijah didn't say anything; he had to struggle to keep himself together. It was possible that Hoyt wouldn't succeed; he needed to prepare a backup plan. Two of Klaus' lackeys had gathered everyone around in the tavern and made sure that no one had left, these people didn't seem to know who had taken Eva. But this man might… Elijah's mind was working fast, he needed to wake this man up and the witches would need a place to work. And they would probably need something of Eva's. Elijah gritted his teeth and looked up, he could sense the approaching dawn and for the first time in centuries he had to take cover.

"Bring it here."

I sobbed quietly when someone threw me roughly over his shoulder, my stomach hurt and my wrists were burning.

"Shut up, demon," someone snapped and slapped my head; I couldn't see anything under the hood. I didn't know how long I had been in the carriage before we had stopped, the two men hadn't said a word to me, except told me to be quiet and kicked me when I had cried.

"Get the captain," said the man who was carrying me. "I bet he wants to see this thing."

"Please…" I sobbed. "I…I did not mean…"

"I said shut up," the man snapped, I screamed when I felt burning pain in my leg. He pressed it with a wet cloth which somehow burned me. I was terrified, I couldn't understand. I hadn't meant to hurt anyone; I only wanted to go home. Papa… I felt that the man was carrying me down the stairs and I heard a squeak when he opened a door. He tossed me on a cold stone floor and pulled my hands up. I heard a clank before he chained me up, my feet barely touched the floor, I had to be on my toes.

"Dear Lord…" a new voice said, he sounded shocked. "Remove the hood."

I blinked few times when the hood was suddenly gone; I was in a small dark room, a prison cell. There was no furniture, only stone walls, the floor and few torches hanging on the walls. The man who stood in front of me looked almost the same age as papa; he had dark hair that reached over his shoulders and dark eyes. All his clothes were black and there was a silver cross on his neck. He stared at me and made the sign of the cross.

"The devil truly is clever," he muttered. "Creating a demon that looks so… innocent."

"My name is Eva," I managed to say, my whole body was trembling. "Please let me go…"

He took a bottle from his pocket and threw the liquid in it to my face, it burned me so badly that I screamed and started to cry.

"You cannot fool me, demon," he snapped. "This is your true face."

I shook my head and tried to swallow my tears.

"No, I am not a demon…"

He stepped in front of me and poured the rest of the burning liquid all over me, I screamed even louder.

"Please stop!" I sobbed desperately.

I flinched when he spit on me and took a step back, staring at me loathingly.

"Unholy abomination… Tell me, how many innocent people have you killed? How many people have you managed to fool with your appearance?"

"I haven't…" I sobbed. "I… I am good."

"A good liar, you mean. How many others are there like you around here?"

I was shaking with fear and pain, but when I looked at him I understood that he wanted to hurt papa, Rebekah, Uncle Klaus, Uncle Kol and everyone else who I cared about. I couldn't let that to happen.

"The-there is no one else."

"Really? We shall see about that, little demon. Roark!"

The man who entered the room was young, he had short light brown hair and brown eyes, he was carrying a wooden box.

"Yes, captain?"

"I need your special skills with this one, I need fast results. Is its appearance a problem to you?"

The young man looked at me and smiled.

"Not at all, captain. Any limitations?"

"No," the dark-haired man replied and headed to the door. "Just make sure it stays alive. For now."

He closed the door behind him, leaving me alone with the young man. He was still smiling when he placed the box on the floor.

"Well, aren't you something," he said cheerfully. "I bet you love to play with your food. Am I right?"

"I… I have dolls," I said quietly. "And a little horse, he is my favorite toy."

He looked at me for a moment and burst into laughter.

"Oh, you are good, I give you that. But unfortunately for you, I have dealt with your kind enough to know what you are; I feel absolutely no sympathy towards you. So, how do you want to do this, the easy way or the hard way?"

"Wha-what do you mean?"

He smiled.

"I want to know the following things: where is your nest, how many other demons is living with you and how old are they?"

He crossed his arms and looked at me expectantly, I felt new tears forming in my eyes, but I wasn't going to tell him anything, I had to protect my family.

"There is no one else."

His smile grew wider.

"Ah, I was hoping you would say that. This is going to be fun."