Thank you for the reviews, favs and alerts. Warning, there's some violence in this chapter.

A dead world
A dark path
Not even crossroads to choose from
All the blood red carpets before me
Behold this fair creation of God!

Nightwish – Planet Hell

Chapter 14

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Talbot Risley had been a soldier for his whole life. He had fought in many battles for whoever ruler had been willing to pay him; he had been a man without a country or a family. He had never believed in much anything, except himself and his sword, but that had all changed few years ago in Romania when Talbot had faced his first demon, a beautiful young woman who had tried to drain him. Unfortunately for her, Talbot hadn't been like her other victims; he had managed to cut off her head.

The world hadn't looked the same after that; Talbot had been forced to see what was lurking in the dark. In that moment Talbot Risley had seen a greater purpose for his life, to send these demons back to hell. He had traveled around searching for guidance when a priest had told him about a holy man called Mikael, a warrior of God who slew demons. Of course Talbot had wanted to meet this Mikael and he had quickly discovered that he was everything what the priest had said and more.

A true warrior of God. Mikael knew everything about these demons, their weaknesses and how they could be killed, Talbot had been fortunate enough to be taught by him. Mikael had told him to share this knowledge with others who wanted to protect the humankind and he had done just that. Talbot had quickly learned that there were many groups of hunters all over Europe, most of them were trained by Mikael himself. Yes, this truly was the purpose of Talbot Risley's life, serve God and slay demons, just like Mikael did.

He was the captain of their unit which consisted of seven men, himself included. They were all skilled warriors, willing to die for their cause. The reason why they were here now was the word they had received from a local priest 6 months ago about a very small demon terrorizing the peasants and their cattle. Talbot and his men hadn't found this demon until tonight, but they had found out that there likely were several demons in this area, people went missing and their bodies were never found.

Soon they would know exactly what they were dealing with. Even though the demons had no soul, they could still feel pain and Roark knew how to cause them pain. Talbot crossed his arms and looked up, the bright sunlight lit up the altar in front of him. They had camped into an old abandoned stone church, it offered them enough shelter and the cellar was perfect for interrogations.

Talbot was becoming impatient, what was taking Roark so long? The screaming had stopped a while ago; hopefully Roark hadn't killed the little demon. Talbot was planning to use it for training purposes; it was easier to handle than a full-grown demon. Perhaps he should take it to Mikael, after they had taken care of its companions. Talbot turned around when he heard Roark coming up the stairs; he was wiping his bloody hands with a clean cloth.

"Well?" Talbot asked.

Roark was smiling, as he usually was when he interrogated someone. Obviously Talbot had noticed that he enjoyed it too much, but as long as he tortured demons, it made no difference.

"This creature is truly fascinating," Roark said cheerfully. "Its body, as small as it is, seems… in some way stronger than a larger individual's, I had to drain it almost completely before the healing mechanism stopped working."

Talbot raised his eyebrows.

"Is it still alive?"

Roark nodded.

"Yes, but I am afraid I need some more time with it. This little demon is quite stubborn, but I will break it soon…"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence when something flew across the room, landing on Talbot's feet. It was a human head. Like a true soldier, Talbot had fast reflexes; he had already unsheathed his sword before he realized that the head belonged to Rolf, one of his men. Another head followed it, then a demon appeared in front of Roark, ripping his heart out with one fluent movement.

"How about you pick on someone your own size," the demon growled furiously.

Talbot raised his sword when the demon crushed Roark's heart; he knew that he only had a one shot. Unfortunately the demon was faster, it twisted his arm back, making him to drop his sword and grabbed him by the neck. This was it, his time to die, but Talbot wasn't afraid, he would be welcomed to paradise after doing God's work. He looked into the demon's blue eyes and smiled.

"You will die, demon, you all will."

"Nik!" a voice shouted from the cellar.

The demon glanced at him callously, then there was nothing except darkness.

"Nik!"

Klaus zoomed to the cellar; the tone of Kol's voice told him that something was really wrong. If these filthy hunters had killed Eva… Klaus had to struggle in order to control himself, this was his fault. No, this was Mikael's fault; it wasn't difficult to see his handprint. This wasn't the first time when Klaus had ran into some hunters trained by Mikael, his dear "father" truly was determined to fix his mistake. Klaus froze when he reached the door to a small room, his eyes widened in shock.

Eva's arms had been chained above her head; her small body was almost hanging in the air. Her tangled, bloody hair shielded most of her bruised face, but Klaus could see that her eyes were closed; her chin was pressed into her collarbone. She was naked and there were bruises, cuts and burn marks all over her fragile body. Kol was standing next to her, looking as shocked as Klaus. They had both done plenty of wicked things, but they would have never done something like this to a child.

"Eva…" Klaus muttered and moved next to her.

"I…" Kol started. "I did not want to hurt her…"

Klaus could certainly see what he meant; it looked as a light touch could shatter her. The person who was capable of something like this was a true monster. Very carefully Klaus wiped some bloody hair out of her face and touched her cheek before gently lifting her into his arms, wanting to make sure that removing the chains wouldn't cause her pain.

"Cut the chains," he said. "Be careful."

Kol hesitated; Klaus couldn't recall seeing him like this, not since they had been humans. Kol had always been very protective towards Henrik, but he hadn't acted like that towards anyone after becoming a vampire.

"You got her?" Kol made sure before reaching towards the chains. "One, two…"

The metal snapped easily, the chains clanked when Kol dropped them on the floor. Klaus kneeled down, supporting Eva's head. She was in a bad shape, she needed some blood immediately.

"Eva?" he said, gently touching her face. "Can you hear me, sweetheart?"

"Her maker's blood," Kol said, kneeling down next to them.

That would probably help her the most, except that they didn't know for sure who her maker was. Klaus bit his wrist and placed it on Eva's lips, trying to make her swallow. Usually a vampire's fangs came out automatically while tasting blood, but hers didn't, she was too weak. Fortunately her swallowing reflex still worked, she needed to feed.

"Your turn," Klaus muttered after he was finished, Kol had already punctured his own wrist. Her body was slowly starting to heal; Klaus removed his shirt and wrapped it around her. She was lying in Kol's arms, motionless like a broken doll.

"We should take her to Elijah," Kol muttered.

Klaus didn't say anything; all he could do was look at her. She was just a little girl; she didn't deserve any of this. She hadn't deserved to be turned and being left alone to deal with it, and she definitely hadn't deserved to be hurt like this. Silently he vowed that he would never let anything like this to happen again, he would protect her like she would be his own child. Maybe she was. He hoped that she was.